We just reviewed the IREX DR800SG Digital Reader and liked what we saw. But there was room for improvement, especially in the inking department and PDF zoom (right now these features don't exist but we sure want 'em).

IREX has contacted us and as it turns out, they're adding those features and a lot of really juicy others this April. Color me very impressed. And I do hope they can get all these out by April-- they're not a trivial set of new features. These will certainly make the IREX a very competitive reader that could give the Sony Reader Daily Edition a run for the money.

Here are the new features and improvements, straight from IREX management:

? Note taking application - NO SUPPORT TO VIEW THESE NOTES ON A PC? B&N EPUB support? Automatic indexing of title, author and thumbnail when a file is added to the device? Ability to import Settings and Accounts (MYIREX, Adobe) from MYIREX sign-up webpage on PC? Improved 3G connection setup time by using QC network driver? "Go to page" function in the document viewer? Book Information View that shows more metadata for PDF and EPUB? Advanced Settings that will allow to enable 'selection zoom' and 'scribble' features only on PDF documents ? IREX will be continually adding content providers to our eBook Mall. We will be offering our own ?IREX Newsstand? that will contain 20+ newspapers/magazines from Libre Digital. Should be ready by April if not before.

Hi, Do you know if the European version have these features already? Also, can you tell me if Irex have a reliable history of providing firmware or software updates to their products? I hate to get stuck with a company that says they will provide updates to turnaround in the near future and say sorry there are no updates available for this product.Thank You

In the past, IREX has sometimes been late with promised updates for their Euro products. This is their first US product, so I hope they do their best to be on time so they can make a good impression here .

I have been waiting to purchase this e-reader since November, but it looks like im going have to wait until they apply these features. I cant see myself paying 399 for this reader thinking that maybe down the road a better reader from another company might come out onto the market for the same price or even cheaper. It stinks that i have to wait. If the price was fifty dollars cheaper i would probably buy it.

With tech gear, there will always be something better in the future. The question is how long you want to wait. Given the readers that have been pre-announced or shown at CES, there hasn't been anything that has the DR800SG's 8.1" display, Wacom pen and portability for the US market.

But in another year or 1.5 years there will be color e-ink displays and other tempting things. Depends on how long you want to wait. Maybe Best Buy will have a sale

Pauli on Mobileread noticed the Car Toys is selling the DR800SG. Better yet, they're offering 10% off if you use Amazon checkout so you get $40 off (getting close to the $50 you wanted) . They have stores in TX, OR, CO and WA, so I assume no tax in NY and ground shipping is free.

Yes, I hope they manage a re-org or buyout under Chapter 11 (Euro laws are a bit different than ours but I think those are their goals). It's a nice reader and IREX was a pioneer years ago, but the market has matured rapidly and they just couldn't match the highly integrated storefront experience and lower prices that the Kindle, nook and Sony Readers offer in the US .